Prosecution of people who made statements about the pound

Turkish bank regulators have prosecuted more than 20 people for allegedly trying to manipulate the country's exchange rate through "their social media and [media] posts" amid the currency crisis. eliminate by 35% the value of the pound this year.

In particular, the supervisory authority claimed that in their posts, the specific individuals tried to manipulate the movements of the exchange rates. They are thus accused of violating an article of the banking law that prohibits statements to the media that could discredit or damage a bank's reputation.

Among those accused of making statements about the Turkish lira are two former central bank governors, journalists and an economist. The list, released late Monday by the regulator, lists 23 Twitter accounts and three individuals.

More specifically, among those targeted by the regulator's complaint are Durmus Yilmaz - who led the central bank from 2006-2011 and is now an opposition lawmaker - and Rustou Saratsoglu, the former head of the monetary authority, economist Gulbaun Opposition lawmaker Burhanetin Bulut and media commentators Emin Kappa, Selcuk Getzer and Seref Oguz.

The move could "freeze" criticism of the government's unorthodox economic policies, the Financial Times comments, adding that the Turkish government often uses the courts to silence its critics and has launched criminal proceedings against journalists and social media users. for their statements during previous financial market instability crises.

Economist Güldem Atabay, who writes for Para Analiz, said he had not yet been formally informed of the complaint, but suspected the move was related to concerns he had about possible risks to the new deposit facility. "The complaint serves as a threat to other economists who also draw attention to the government's policy mistakes," he said. "I will continue to try to inform the world about what I see, which is based on mathematics and science," he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced emergency measures on December 20th to limit the pound's losses against the dollar, including a new deposit tool that protects depositors from currency devaluation. The pound recovered some of its losses after the measures, however, yesterday broke the uptrend after the announcement of measures to de-dollarize deposits.

naftemporiki.gr